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Monday, December 23, 2013

Does being Homosexual send you to hell?

NO. Neither does being a murderer, liar, adulterer or thief.

There's only one thing that will send you to Hell for all eternity. And that is rejecting Jesus. God sent His only Son into the world to pay the penalty for all of our failings, our mistakes, our evil. Jesus took the punishment that we deserve onto Himself, paid the price while He hung on the cross, and then won victory over death with His resurrection. He now sits at the right hand of God in Heaven in Victory interceding for us on earth. When man fell in the garden of Eden, a rift formed between God and man. God is so holy that He cannot relate to a being that has even a speck of evil within him. Yet, God mourned the loss of man. He loves mankind and immediately made a way for man to be reconciled to Him. That way is Jesus.

There's been much to do about homosexuality in the news lately due to Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty's recent comments, and I felt compelled to comment on this whole fiasco. Is Homosexuality a sin? Absolutely. I agree with everything Mr. Robertson said. However, I believe he could have expressed his beliefs in a less crass and crude way and also expressed the truth that God loves gays. God loves liars, and prostitutes and thieves and murderers. God even loved Hitler! God loves all of us, each and every one of us from the lowest drug addicted prostitute in the alleyway to the richest greediest CEO of a corporation, to the Pope Himself. God loves. He is love. And the message of the Bible is one of love.

But it is also one of warning. If you continue in your sin and do not accept God's free gift then you will end up in Hell for all eternity. One of the problems with modern western Christianity is it presents a watered-down politically correct version of faith for fear of offending or ostracizing people. And I, for one, am sick of it. We are coddling people all the way to hell.

The truth is, if you're a believer in Jesus, then you must believe the Bible is the Word of God and if you believe that, then you must believe everything in it. And what it says is that Homosexuality is a sin. In fact, God calls it an abomination. And those who practice it, if they do not repent and turn to God, will end up in Hell. Along with everyone else who doesn't repent. It's not just Homosexuals who need to repent but ALL of us. We ALL have fallen short of God's standards.

So, if a homosexual believes in Jesus and receives His sacrifice, is he or she okay now? Not if they are still practicing that sin. You can't come to God, accept Jesus, and then continue to purposely defy God's moral laws. Jesus asks us to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Him. The Bible says that we cannot say we love God and continue to do the things He hates. Christianity is not just a belief. It is a way of life. It is a renewed life. If you are a true Christian then the Spirit of God lives within you. You have been reborn from a dead spirit doomed for all eternity to one that is alive with God's power. If you have the Spirit of God living within you, then you WILL change. You can't help it. You will spend time with God. You will fall in love with Him, and you will grow to hate evil as much as He does. Your whole life will change. Will you still sin? Yes. But you will sin less. And you will rarely do it purposely.

So you see it doesn't matter whether you're a homosexual or a murderer, thief, or simply a gossiper. All are sins. And all will keep you from heaven if you don't repent and change your ways. The message of the Bible is one in which our Father in Heaven is desperately trying to save us from Hell, trying to win us back, trying to tell us to stay away from the things that will ultimately make us unhappy and turn to Him. Receive His Son and live for eternity in a place of unimaginable joy and adventure and beauty.

I've heard the argument that homosexuals can't help the way they are, that there's some gene that made them homosexuals. I respectfully disagree. God wouldn't create a being who would not be able to avoid sinning. That would be cruel and against God's nature. Each of us has our own weaknesses. Some may battle with lust, others stealing, others lying, others gossiping.. but none of us HAS to do these things. We choose to do them. Personally, I believe homosexuality is caused by a series of bad choices that ends up in the person being possessed by a demon of homosexuality. Every time you hear someone say they can't help what they do, you can bet a demon is involved. Seek deliverance.

If you're a homosexual reading this, I want you to know that true Christians, true followers of Jesus don't hate you. Yes, there are some out there in the name of God who are haters. But no one who truly loves God hates homosexuals or any other sinner. We are all sinners. We love you. God loves you. And God doesn't want anyone to go to hell. He is calling you out of your sin and begging you to turn to Him. He can deliver you. He can heal you. He can set you free.

I know this post will anger some people and cause some to hate me. I don't care. I'm tired of not speaking the truth for fear of persecution. I'm tired of a watered-down message. And I'm tired of political correctness. It's more important that you know the truth than it is that you like me. I love you all and pray I'll see you some day in Heaven.

12 comments:

Do you know how much I love your blog posts, ESPECIALLY ones like this where the truth AND heart of God reigns??!! THANK YOU for posting this; deeply touching, totally in agreement with you, and love how you yearn for others to love/know Christ as you do.....that's completely the heart of God no matter what our brokenness is! Big time hugs and blessings to you, MaryLu :) The world needs more people like you with heart and boldness in speaking for Christ!

AMEN!I totally agree with you MaryLu. You put it down just exactly right. e can't even call wrong wrong anymore. I don't remember exactly when this Politically Correctness started, but it has really done lots of damage to our country. But, I've noticed none of them seem to have any tolerance of how we feel, only for the others. They can say whatever they want to about us and it is perfectly okay with the others. The Bill Meyer, the TV host I believe has said over and over that their is no GOD and even laughs about. But our Government has bent backwards to stop us from any opinion at all of how we feel. Even to our soldiers accused of being disrespecting of their Koran, yet it seems perfectly ok that in the muslim country they are burned and even Christians in churches. And nothing is said by our government. I'm glad we have a pastor who tells it like the Bible says on all subjects. Too many tip toe around so many subjects for fear of stepping on toes. My dad told me, if you feel the preacher is stepping on your toes, then it must be something you needed to hear. GOD bless you. Stay strong in your faith. And Merry Christmas to you in this season to celebrate the birth of our Savior, only to die for our sins.

Thanks everyone! I fully expected a ton of hate comments today from this post but instead I received your encouraging words. Thank you so much!! I'm sure I'll get the hate mail eventually, but it's good to know I'm not alone. Merry Christmas to all of you!!

MaryLu - You are absolutely right! Everything you wrote is the truth--the whole truth. God made the rules, and He's not changing. Either we surrender to His Majesty and obey Him completely, or we oppose Him and suffer the consequences. I am so proud of you and Phil Robertson and everyone who is unafraid to speak the truth boldly. God promises to be faithful to those who are faithful to Him (as shown all through the Bible: David & Goliath, Joshua, Daniel & the Lions, 3 Hebrew boys in the Fiery Furnace, an angel releasing Peter from the middle of the heavily-guarded prison, etc., etc.) But Jesus will spit out everyone who is lukewarm...trying to ride the fence...trying not to offend men...not taking a stand for anything. Jesus even said (in Revelation) that He wishes people would be hot or cold toward Him--but lukewarm so-called Christians make Him sick. That's serious!! I personally have vowed to be hot--on fire--for the Lord & serve Him fully. I am 100% in support of everyone else who is proclaiming God's truth. Because it is only His truth that can set anyone free...we ALL need to be free...

Thank you, thank you, thank you for such an awesome post!! I'm going to link to it on my FB page.

Tues Dec 24th ....Well, thank-you and God Bless you MaryLu .... for speaking the truth in love. On TV especially .... every time I turn the channel to something like "Entertainment Tonight" (or whatever) .... the talk and buzz seems to be "all" about homosexuality ! I'm getting sick and tired of hearing about it ! About how many -- States, Countries, etc, are becoming "more tolerant and accepting of it". It's showing them getting married, kissing, etc. I don't want to watch it !!! I know it's happening, but "I" don't want to watch it happening !!! Love the sinner, hate the sin .... yes. God hates the sin, and so do I. I'm not ashamed to say that !Again, most appreciative that you would be willing to speak up and share this with us. You totally hit the nail-on-the-head !"Merry Christmas Blessings" to you and your family too, MaryLu .... and to all of the crew !Take care, and, God Bless, In Him, Brenda

Hi MaryLu! It is nice to read a blog from you! I hope you, your family, and your loved ones have a Merry Christmas!

“God wouldn't create a being who would not be able to avoid sinning.” I am going to have to disagree with you on this one. To say that we have the ability to not sin, means we would have the ability to be perfect on our own and have no need of Christ. This is obviously not true. We are born sinners. As sinners, we sin. Do we choose to sin? Yes! Because that is what sinners do! And since we are all born sinners, there is no way around it. It is in our nature and there is no escaping it. We are all doomed apart from Christ. Every single one of us. But, because God had mercy on us fallen creatures, He sent Christ to us. He did what none of us were able to do.

I also am going to disagree with you on that you can’t be saved if you are still practicing a certain sin. I think there is a big difference between being repentant and crying out to Christ to have mercy on them, while still struggling with homosexual urges and lusts, and not caring and thinking that being a Christian gives you a free pass to do what you want or even believing that homosexuality is not a sin. I am grateful that I am forgiven, even though I still struggle daily with numerous sins of my own. But Christ still forgives me as I cry out for mercy.

Does being a homosexual send you to hell? You bet it does! Sin is what condemns us. All sin. It doesn’t matter if it is the most vile, wretched thing you can think of or the most innocent little thing that you wouldn’t even bat an eye at if you did it or saw someone else do. It still condemns. However, Christ, being merciful, came to us, took pity on us, and redeemed us. He took the punishment we deserve upon Himself so that we could be counted as righteous before God. Sin is what makes us guilty. Jesus is what makes us clean. Rejecting Christ sends us to hell, because without Christ we are still dead in our trespasses.

I agree with you that a person continuing to struggle with a sin is forgiven, but I don’t think that’s what MaryLu was talking about – I think she was talking about people who willingly continue sinning without any desire whatsoever to change their ways. The Bible makes it very clear that people who say they are Christians but willingly continue in sin, without genuinely feeling bad about it and trying to change, are not forgiven – see Hebrews 10:26-31, Romans 11:17-24, and Revelation 3:1-6. The issue is being apathetic toward sin, not struggling with it.

So, a homosexual Christian who acknowledges that homosexuality is a sin and tries to not give in to it, yet still experiences those urges and sometimes slips up and goes further IS forgiven – just like you were talking about. But, a homosexual “Christian” who knows that the Bible says homosexuality is wrong but never makes any real effort to resist that temptation is NOT forgiven.

However, there are also homosexual Christians who don’t believe that homosexuality is a sin because many denominations don’t believe in a purely literal interpretation of Scripture, and because Matthew 5:19 seems to say that people who “annul” a Biblical commandment are “least in the kingdom of heaven” but still a part of the kingdom of heaven, I’m inclined to think that people in this situation who truly in their heart of hearts believe that it’s not wrong are still forgiven, even though they are continuing to engage in that sin. I praise God that He is so merciful. :-)

That’s just what I myself have found in Scripture. :-) Merry Christmas, sister!

So, what about all the people in the church who are gossiping, grumbling, divorced and gluttons? There are an awful lot of them in the church who are persisting in their sin. Are they going to hell with the homosexuals? If all sin is the same, it follows that they are. That is an awful lot of people in the church... This is an issue that really bothers me. I see SO MUCH sin in the church. Some of it we even call "prayer requests" rather than gossip, but it is really gossip. I think we need to point a much bigger finger at the sin that is in the church than what is outside the church. For those who are outside, not believing in Jesus is ALL that matters. The rest of their sin in not important. Sin really only matters if you are in the church. So, first we need to get them to see how much Jesus loves them. I don't believe that pointing out people's sin (especially irrelevant sin since they are nonbelievers) does them any good at all.

Gail, I'm no excluding any sin no matter how small or who does it, whether a church-going person or a staunch atheist. I agree with you that there are many people within the church who continually sin. Some are more blatant about than others. Some cover it up well. What it all boils down to, whether you're gay or a habitually gossiper, is the state of your heart. Do you know God? Have you given your life to Him? Do you follow Jesus to the best of your ability? Do you love God with all your heart soul mind and body?? Are you truly sorry for your sins? Do you get up everyday asking for God's grace to overcome them and with His power you see that slowly you are being transformed from within into a new creature. And that new creature seems to sin less and less. That's the rebirth! That's the follower of Jesus. Or did you just say a prayer one day in church to receive Jesus, but you don't really know Him. You don't love Him, your life doesn't revolve around Him and you truly enjoy some of your pet sins and are hesitant to give them up? Do you enjoy church for the social aspect and the respect it brings you but you really don't think of God during the week? These are two extremes, but I believe both of them flood our churches today and there are many types in between. It's not up to me or anyone else to determine whether someone is saved or going to hell. That's up to God. All I'm trying to say in this post is that a good indication that you don't love God and don't know Him is if you get up every day and purposely determine to sin. That kind of attitude indicates that you don't know or love God and that you're not sorry for your sin. This is not me talking, this is found straight in the Scriptures. Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him. 1 John 3:6

We are all on our own path toward God. Do we sin daily? Yes! But those of us who know and love God are ashamed of our failings and we quickly ask forgiveness and pray for God's power to do better next time. Hopefully after years of walking with the Lord, we are changed and that old sin that haunted us no longer tempts us.

I completely agree with you that we must address sin in the church and not the world. There are many practicing homosexuals in the church today.. and I was speaking to them as well as those in the world. Though LOVE is a far better method of drawing people to God, I agree, (which I believe my message also contains) The truth must be stated. Jesus didn't shy away from the truth, especially to those who were lost. I thank you for your thoughts and pray you had a wonderful Christmas! :-)

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for boldly speaking the truth. I, too, grow so tired of political correctness. It's funny that tolerance is expected of everyone, but as soon as someone speaks out against something that is truly wrong, they are treated with intolerance. I COMPLETELY agree with your post and appreciate you voicing your (and most importantly God's opinion) about not only homosexuality but ALL sins.